Bacon
was definitely a worldly wise man. He appears both as a wise and a shrewd
person in the suggestions that he has advocated for worldly success in his
essays. He was truly of the Renaissance: the age of accumulating knowledge,
wealth and power. Being a true follower of Machiavellian principles, he led his
life for worldly success. He was a man of shrewd and sagacious intellect with
his eyes fixed on the way that would bring practical success. Consequently we
find that what he has preached in his essays is only the knowledge needed for
worldly success.
There
is no doubt that Bacon’s essays are a treasure house of worldly/practical
wisdom. The term worldly/practical wisdom means a wisdom which is necessary for
worldly/practical success. It does not need any deep philosophy or any ideal
morality. But Bacon was a man of high wisdom, as he himself pronounced, “I have
taken all knowledge to be my province”. Bacon also preached morality but his
morality is subordinate to worldly success and he never hesitated to sacrifice
it for worldly benefit. His essays are rich with the art which a man should
employ for achieving success in his life: such as shrewdness, sagacity, tact,
foresight, judgment of character and so on.
The
subject of Bacon in his essays is the man who needs prosperity in worldly
terms. Bacon’s essays bring men to ‘come home to men’s business and bosoms’. He
teaches them how to exercise one’s authority and much more. When he condemns
cunning, he condemns it not because it is a hateful and vile thing, but because
it is unwise. That is why the wisdom in his essay is considered a ‘cynical’
kind of wisdom. He describes his essays as ‘Counsels – civil and moral’. In his
essay “Of Truth”, Bacon appreciates truth and wishes people to speak the truth.
He says:
“A
lie faces God and shrinks from man.”
He
warns human beings against the punishment for the liar on the doomsday. But at
the same time, he considers a lie as an ‘alloy’ which increases the strength of
gold and feels it necessary for survival on earth.
Bacon
is both a philosopher and a moralist as is clear from his essays. A philosopher
is, broadly speaking; a person who is deeply interested in the pursuit of
truth, while a moralist is a person who teaches human beings the distinction
between what is right and what is wrong and urges them to tread the right path
only. Bacon appears in this dual role in many of the essays that he has
written. In the essay, Of Truth, Bacon says that truth is the supreme good for
human beings. He describes the inquiry of truth as seeking it, the knowledge of
truth as its presence and the belief of truth as the enjoying of it.
Making
an obvious reference to the Bible, Bacon says that the first thing created by
God was light and the final thing created by Him was the rational faculty that
he bestowed upon man. First God breathed light upon matter or chaos; then He
breathed light into the face of man; and afterwards he has always been
breathing light into the faces of those whom He chooses for his special favor.
All these, we might say, are the observations of a philosopher-cum-moralist.
Bacon’s
object in writing this essay is manifestly to instill into the minds of his
readers a love of truth.
Though
Bacon ran after worldly success but his essays also provides great
philosophical ideas to the readers.
Sources-
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